CARSON CITY, Nev.—So-called anti-sex trafficking organizations like the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) have recently been on a tear to eliminate prostitution wherever they can find it—and that includes the legal brothel system in many counties in Nevada. For example, Rebekah Charleston, a former prostitute in a Nevada brothel, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to have Nevada's brothel system declared illegal, and in the 2018 election, anti-sex-work politicians and activists managed to get an initiative on the ballot in Lyon and Nye counties to criminalize prostitution entirely. (It failed.)
But politicians are well aware that when they can't make something illegal, they may still be able to accomplish part of their "mission" by attempting to regulate the activity to death.
That's likely the reason why, on September 5, Nye County officials announced proposed code changes to Chapter 9.20: Prostitution. These changes, if accepted by Nye County Commissioners, would impose severe restrictions on the legal sex workers operating out of Nye County's licensed brothels by confining them to the workplace for most of their work periods, which are typically three or four weeks long at a time.
"Courtesans are allowed to leave the Brothel Premises for six (6) hours per ten (10) day medical clearance period during the hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.," the proposed change to the law reads. "A Courtesan with a verified medical appointment may leave the Brothel Premises for up to twelve (12) hours during the hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m."
"These proposed 'lockdown' laws discriminate against women working legally in Nevada brothels by marginalizing and stigmatizing sex workers, branding these women with a scarlet letter and letting them know, loud and clear, that these women are not permitted the same freedoms everyone else in Nye County enjoys," declared the Nevada Brothel Association's Chuck Muth, who founded the group StopLockdown.org to oppose the proposed changes. "If these code changes pass, it will be the most appalling assault against women in the workplace in the history of Nevada and a black mark on the Silver State."
And they're hardly the only ones who understand what these changes would do to legal prostitution in the state. At least one licensed Nevada sex worker and women’s rights advocate is opposing the ordinance changes in Nye County that would confine sex workers in brothels for days at a time.
Alice Little, a top-earning licensed sex worker at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch legal brothel in Lyon County, Nevada, has released a video urging people to voice their opposition to the proposed Nye County law changes.
In the video, Little asks, “Can you believe that in 2019 these commissioners want to actually force women to remain at the brothel location, unable to return home at the end of the night?”
“In 2019, this cannot stand. It's an abuse of power, and, most importantly, it's abusive towards women,” Little said. “What we have here in Nevada is a beautiful consensual [legal prostitution] system that allows women to enter it willingly of their own free choice and volition. By passing legislation that prevents women from being able to come and go as they please, it removes consent from the equation. If I can't choose to leave, is it really consensual?”
Although prostitution has been common in Nevada since the mid-19th century, it was not made officially legal until the early 1970s. Many of the laws governing legal sex workers in Nevada are determined on a county-by-county basis. As noted above, the Nye County, Nevada Commission is considering changes to the county’s brothel ordinance, and Little believes that these proposed ordinance changes will be a step backward for legal Nevada sex workers and will negatively impact the legacy of the state’s sex work legislation.
“The reality is sex work is only legal in one of the 50 states. As such, we need to set an example for what a national legalized system could look like in the future,” Little said.
“Do we want our Nevada legacy to be negative towards women, or do we want it to be empowering. Women are the heart of the sex work industry, without us there wouldn't be brothels. We need your help in protecting our rights,” Little said.
"We need to be the example and we need to lead by example—together we can make that happen. Let's stop lockdown and keep sex workers where they belong: free!"
